Ahhh man, Upper Crust. It's a love-hate thing here.
So, I live in the neighborhood behind Upper Crust and work at the business right across the street from Upper Crust. I would love to call this place my go-to pizza joint, but I just caaaan't.
The owner is great. He's a charming funny guy who genuinely cares about his pizza and the people he's serving it to. The times when he was the one who made my pizza were the best. The slices are insane. Like one Upper Crust slice is the equivalent to an entire DiGiorno pizza...except it's obviously tastier. Their menu offers a variety of meat and veggie toppings. Being a vegetarian, it's always a relief to find a place where my options aren't limited. I like to get spinach and zucchini on my pizza...that is, when they actually have those ingredients.
Maybe I should talk about why I can't call this place my go-to pizza joint. So, look, I'm all for the laid-back stoner employee pizza joint idea. Seriously, it's great. Except, the wrong stoners have been hired here, man. One of the first time I went, some dirty looking girl (and this isn't me being an asshole, you could literally see a patchy layer of filth on her skin) with her bra hanging out of her tank top greeted me, well, kinda. She more just said "what's up" after I stood awkwardly in front of the register for 30 seconds. She kept getting distracted from my order by some loud kid cracking jokes in the back. I had paid for my order when she told me that they didn't have 2 of the 3 toppings I asked for that day. She didn't offer a refund or a discount or anything. I just had to figure out two other veggie toppings on the spot. Nothing else stood out to me, so she just goes "Uhh we could just do, like, triple spinach?"
It took probably 10 minutes for them to get out my pizza. They didn't wear gloves (they never do). This normally doesn't bother me at all, except for this chick's skin looked the way I imagine a 2 week deceased corpse smells. When I finally got the pizza, there was no more spinach on it than there usually is. I suppose I should be relieved. I can't even imagine what triple spinach would look like. The crust was hard and I felt like shit for the rest of the day.
Since it's the only place within walking distance from my work that I can get food at, I've gone here a few times since. Unfortunately, the owner is never there when I go, the staff is always too stoned to function, the crust is always way too chewy, and they are usually out of the ingredients I want. I brought my friend here once, and the service was shit as usual. When we were on our way out, the only 3 staff members were sitting at a table, eating pizza (wearing their aprons) and watching Tokyo Drift on the T.V. I asked the guy who made our pizza if he wanted me to leave the plates on the table or if there was another place he wanted me to put them and he goes "Do whatever you want" all the while staring at the screen.
The other night I went there with my boyfriend. He ordered a super meaty pizza and got me a veggie slice. He made it clear to the cashier that I was a vegetarian, and said "just in case you want to change your gloves or something". The kid looked at him like he was stupid and said "uh okay." After a 10 minute wait, the kid brings out a single to-go box and says "I hope it's okay that I put them both in the same box." I'm not a freak so I wasn't that pissed about it, until I opened the box and realized that our pizzas were part of the same slice. They basically just made one giant slice and put his toppings on one half and my toppings on the other. Bits of meat found their way to my side of the pizza and basically my whole meal was ruined. On top of that, my boyfriend tipped like 40% because he's too nice. I was really hoping that would be reflected in the quality of our meal, but it wasn't.
My advise to everyone is to go in the daytime. That's usually when the owner is there and the pizza is at it's best. Anytime after 6, though, seems like stoner hour. read more